Gale Banks 80'

I'm currently on vacation and have a new Dodge Challenger as a rental car. No its not a Hellcat. Anyway when You open and close the Doors the Windows dip down a 1/2" and then when the Door is closed they go back up sealing the gap. I think a lot of modern cars do this including Corvettes. I have been doing this manually on my 80 for the last 36 years or so. When I did the Nevada 100 I didn't get it rolled up in time and the vacuum sucked the glass out for the next 89 miles. I think this would be kinda a neat future on our cars. Has anybody done it ? Do the new OEM's do it with some sort of controller or is it just part of the ECM ?

wendellp601

The windows in most modern cars are actually controlled by the BCM, or body control module. The automotive assembly plant where I work has them installed inside the dash.

lionelhutz

GM has door control modules in each door that control all the door functions. They communicate with each other, for example the drivers door module communicates to the passenger door module when you use the drivers controls to adjust the passenger mirror or passenger window. The BCM communicates with both to tell them things like unlock the doors.

I doubt you could use only the GM door modules to control the windows. They are likely told by the BCM over communications to turn on and off. Same as the radios and HVAC controllers get told via communications by the BCM to turn on and off. They also likely wouldn't be happy without having the BCM to talk to.

I'm not sure how Dodge does it, but it's likely similar.

Gale Banks 80'

Thanx for the info. Sounds like pretty typical modern design. I'm not so sure I'm going to try to crack the codes on a BCM to make this work quite yet. As this gets more typical on modern cars I'm sure somebody with do it in the aftermarket and it will be just a matter of a little wiring project. Its just a matter of when, probably isn't any time soon.

SwampeastMike

Some GMs (Cadillac for certain) used a separate control system for the doors through at least 2005 or so. It was not connected to the main data line so it would be relatively easy to integrate into another vehicle. Each door received its own control module with the driver door acting as the master. External inputs were straight forward (e.g. a wire is grounded) instead of encoded commands on the data line.

With some research you could find if that system is still in use for any car with the window "dip" function.

Provided you could solve the electrical problems, mechanical difficulties may well prove as or more difficult to surmount. For instance: while express down windows are quite common now, express up are not so common. When the express up feature was added to otherwise identical cars, the regulators also changed. The ones I know of (again Cadillacs) did not use any electrical limit switches or similar on the regulators so I don't know how the control unit gets information regarding limits and obstructions. While the dedicated door control system was still used there was now at least an output of some sort to the main data system as a "Calibrate passenger window" or similar message could be displayed.

Determining if one electronic system will work without another in modern cars is pretty much a "try it and see" proposition.

I was able to add an OEM ultrasonic rear parking assist to my '99 Seville (it wasn't available that year) without too much difficulty. I did discover, to my surprise, that multiple modules (in my case the RIM or "rear integration module") can co-exist on the same data line without problem. The second RIM in my car serves only to give the audio alert for the parking assist system.

I was not though able to install the OEM style tire pressure sensing (individual for each tire) system. Despite the fact that I replaced or added all of the required components I could never overcome the "Unknown function error" that comes from the PCM (power control module, a.k.a. "brain/master module").

Duane4238

Not sure if I follow "the vacuum sucked the glass out for the next 89 miles"? The glass in my '72 doesn't move in or out at the top. Just follows the track. Thanks.
Duane

Gale Banks 80'

If I lower a window at say 65mph or higher the vacuum pulls it out. If the window is an inch or more down then there is no track to guide it. On that occasion I thought the Glass was going to break it was rattling so bad.